Better Life

Alexis opened the stiff paper first. It was the form that said that AJ quit. It was signed by both AJ and Jerry. Of course Jerry only thought that it was for Lance Hoyt to quit. She folded it up and then took out the letter. She opened it and read it.

Jerry,

Well, the joke's on you now. I'm giving you the only thing that you ever gave me, misery. You'll probably be looking for months before you find either of us. You can have fun on that hunt. Tell Jeff that I said buh-bye.

Alexis & AJ

Alexis set down both pieces of paper in plain sight on her dresser and then ran outside to catch the bus.

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"Where the hell could that bastard possibly be?" AJ said listening to the phone ring and ring.

He passed it to Alexis and she tried again.

"Jerry might have him for questioning," Alexis said.

AJ shrugged and thought.

"Turn here," Alexis directed.

"New York city?" AJ asked her. "This is going to be the first place that they'll look."

"Calm down," Alexis said to him. "They don't know where to look."

"You'd better have something planned," AJ said to her.

"I do," Alexis said directing him to the place that she wanted to go. They ended up in the Bronx.

"What are we doing here?" He asked.

"Waiting for my mother to leave," Alexis said watching the door.

She looked at the clock and then back at the door. Her mother walked out.

"One more minute," Alexis said touching AJ's arm.

They waited a little while longer and another person walked out of the building.

"Who is that?" AJ asked.

"My brother," Alexis said opening the car door.

She quickly ran into the building and up the stairs. AJ was behind her as she took a bobby pin out of her pocket and shoved it into the keyhole. It took a few seconds but she managed to get the door open.

"C'mon," Alexis said once they were inside the apartment. "I don't know how long we have."

She quickly ran to the back of the apartment, her room. She opened the door and quickly took things out of her dresser. When she had everything out of the dresser she moved to the floor and started feeling the boards. She found that one that was broken and lifted it up.

"Whoa," AJ said looking at the cash.

"Damn straight," Alexis said filling a bag.

When she was done with the bag she got another card out from underneath the mattress.

"We're good," Alexis said once she grabbed a few more clothes. "Let's skidaddle."

Instead of taking the same way they came in Alexis opened the window and crawled out into the fire escape.

"It's a little shaky," Alexis said closing the window. "But it'll hold up to five."

AJ just laughed and shook his head.

"On the bright side, we're only one floor up."

"Ms. Bright Side," AJ said gently helping her down and then jumping down. "What now?"

"Now we have to go to the bank quickly to get rid of all this cash," Alexis said.

So AJ drove Alexis to the bank and she quickly got all of the money put into her account.

"Now I recommend that you lock all the doors," Alexis said to him. "It's not pretty where we're going."

AJ locked all the doors and took directions from her again. Once they were down in the certain part of the city Alexis got out and walked up to a house. She started banging on the door. There was no answer.

"Well that was a good plan," AJ said sitting on the hood of the car.

"They'll answer," Alexis said continuing to knock.

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"They're not home!" AJ yelled.

"Yes they are!" Alexis yelled back and kept knocking.

"Who doesn't answer the door after two hours of knocking?" AJ asked her.

"These people," Alexis answered. "Just one more hour."

"Oh fuck me," AJ said laying down on the hood.

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Alexis was exhausted and didn't know how much longer she could continue to knock. Then the door opened. AJ quickly jumped up.

"Stephie?" Alexis asked in shock.

"Lexi?" The other girl asked.

"Like ya couldn't just look out the window and seen that it was me!" Alexis yelled.

"House rules," the girl said.

"So what are you doing here?" Alexis asked.

"I'm with Jesse now," the girl answered. "But forget about me, where have you been?"

"Long, long story," Alexis answered. "But I actually need some help."

"What do you need?"

"A place to stay, one or two nights only," Alexis replied. "For me and my boyfriend."

"Who is it?" A man asked walking up behind the girl.

"Hi Jesse," Alexis said raising her hand in a small wave. "It's me."

"What's wrong?" Jesse asked.

"I need a place to stay and services," Alexis said. "For the two of us."

"One second," Jesse said and closed the door.

They talked for a few seconds before the door opened again.

"You can stay with us for as long as you need," Stephanie said.

"Thank you so much," Alexis said hugging Stephanie. "What about the services?"

"Done and done," Stephanie said motioning them both into the house.

AJ grabbed Alexis' wrist.

"We have to talk," AJ said to her.

"One second," Alexis said to Stephanie and Jesse. They walked towards the car. "What?"

"Who the hell are these people?" AJ asked.

"Stephanie and I used to be best friends before I moved," Alexis explained. "And Jesse's my ex."

"Oh no," AJ said. "There is no way that I'm staying at your ex's."

"Oh my God," Alexis said and then slapped him. "Grow up!"

"Alexis," AJ said. "How do you know that you can trust them?"

"Because they used to help me all the time," Alexis said to him. "You have your friends that you can trust and I have mine. You have to trust me on this."

AJ looked back at the house and then at Alexis.

"It's better than driving all through the night," Alexis said to him. "This way we can both rest before we have to get going again. This was the easy part of the trip baby. It's not over yet. I had to stop here and get more money."

"Fine," AJ said raising his hands in defense. "If this is what you want."

"Thank you," Alexis said hugging him tightly.

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"So what kind of trouble are you in?" Jesse asked as he sat down with the other three.

"Well, when I was in Nashville living with my uncle I met AJ," Alexis said looking at AJ. "But my uncle wouldn't even let me talk to guys, never mind having one of my own. So we started seeing each other in the bathroom and every other place that we could think of. Eventually we got tired of only fifteen minutes so I started sneaking out for the entire night to go to his place. My uncle caught me sneaking into the house so I started sneaking out of my cousin's window, got caught. After that they locked me in a room, barely fed me, watched me use the washroom and other shit like that. But they also hurt him so that's the reason we decided that we had to get out of there."

"And now you're on the run together," Stephie said sighing. Then she looked at Jesse. "Can we do that?"

Jesse rolled his eyes and then looked back at Alexis. "So I'll take the car for you guys."

"What?" AJ asked.

"He's gonna take the car and put it in the compound that he owns," Alexis said. "That way if they do drive past here they won't see the car."

"Not one scratch," AJ said handing the keys over to Jesse.

"I do this all the time," Jesse said taking the keys. "You have nothing to worry about."

Stephie left the room and then returned a few minutes later.

"Dinner's ready!" She sang.

"What?" Alexis asked.

"You can join us for dinner," Jesse said opening the dining room door. "It's the least that we can do for you."

"We're having a beef roast with gravy, potatoes and carrots," Stephie said and began serving everyone. "I hope you're hungry."

"Oh yeah," Alexis said smiling at AJ who smiled back at her.

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That night AJ and Alexis were lying in bed but Alexis couldn't sleep.

"What's wrong Princess?" AJ asked kissing her forehead.

"Just nervous," Alexis said wrapping her arms around him.

"There's no reason to be nervous," he said. "Just go to sleep."

Alexis couldn't calm herself down enough to be able to sleep. AJ began to caress her back. It soothed her a little bit but she was still jumpy so in a low voice AJ began to sing in her ear.

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Alexis and AJ stayed with Stephie and Jesse for another day and then decided that they should leave.

"Thank you so much for letting us stay," Alexis said hugging Stephie and then Jesse. "You don't know how big of a help you were."

"No problem," Jesse said. "Anything for a friend. Just let me go and get your car."

They continued to say goodbye until Jesse brought the car around to the front.

"Those are the wrong plates," AJ said to Jesse.

"Yeah I changed them with another 2006 Charger in the compound. This way if the cops see the black Charger they'll phone in the plates and they'll see that they've got the wrong car," Jesse explained. "It's just another way to keep you two safer. The car's also got a full tank."

AJ thought about it and then nodded. "Sounds good."

"You two can come back if you ever need anything," Stephie said. "We'd be glad to have you back."

"Thanks," AJ said and hugged Stephie once more.

"You two get going," Jesse said.

AJ and Alexis got into the car and drove off.

"Now was that so bad?" Alexis asked him.

"No sweetie," AJ said rolling his eyes as he navigated his way out of the city. "So where the hell are we going now?"

"South," Alexis said. "We have enough money now to go on a little road trip."

"You're really going to make them run," AJ said laughing. "That's horrible."

"They'll catch up sooner or later," Alexis said looking out the window. "I'm just hoping that it's after we get to the place."

"So how far south are we talking?" AJ asked her.

"Well…umm…"

"Lexi…"

"Dallas, Texas," Alexis answered. "Through New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, and Oklahoma."

AJ shrugged. "Now see? Was that so hard?"

Alexis stuck her tongue out.

"So we're basically going went halfway through and then south?"

"Yep," Alexis said as she took the card out of her purse. "Isn't it amazing how much money can fit into one card? How much is on the other one?"

"There's still a few hundred," AJ said.

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AJ and Alexis switched off driving for two days before stopping at a motel in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

"Bed," AJ said falling down on the bed.

"You must be exhausted," Alexis said rubbing his back. "Do you want me to get you anything?"

"Nah, I'm good," AJ said rolling onto his back. "Unless you want to offer me some special deals."

"I think we could arrange that," Alexis said kissing him.

AJ pulled Alexis close to him and kissed her.

"Oh God, how long has it been?" AJ asked her.

"About four months," Alexis said kissing him.

"Four months too long," AJ said rolling her under him.

He kissed her strongly and then began to undress her. It didn't take long until they were fully undressed. AJ finished up and the two laid together for a few minutes.

"That was good," AJ said and kissed her shoulder.

She moaned in response.

He pulled the blankets up around her shoulders and watched her.

"What?" She asked laughing.

"Nothing," he said kissing her cheek. "You're just cute."

"Fine, if you have nothing to stay, I have a question," Alexis said.

"Shoot," AJ said propping himself up on his elbow.

"How many women have you been with?" Alexis asked.

"We're not doing this," AJ said falling back on the bed.

"Why not?" Alexis asked. "Gonna be embarrassed?"

"No, but then you're going to tell me how many men you've been with and I really don't want to hear it," AJ said to her.

"Reason?"

"Because I'm a very territorial male," AJ said kissing her. "So in my books no one as ever touched you."

"That just sounds sexy," Alexis laughed.

"So do we have to talk about this?"

"No, we're good," Alexis said kissing his chest. "Get some sleep."

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After that night they drove for two more before they stopped for the night in Fort Worth, Texas.

"It is really hot in here," Alexis said fanning herself.

"Well there's nothing that I can do about it," AJ said laying down beside her.

"Okay," Alexis said standing up. "I'm sleeping in my underwear."

"Why didn't I think of that suggestion?" AJ asked.

"Shut up," Alexis said throwing off her clothes.

When she laid back down AJ wrapped his arms around her.

"You should sleep like this more often," he said stroking her leg. "I find it extremely attractive."

Alexis laughed. "You're strange."

AJ kissed her neck and then her shoulder.

Alexis laughed more but then pulled away from him.

"I don't think that we need any more heat."

"I knew we should've went to Alaska," AJ said rolling off of her.

"Maybe next time we have someone to run from," Alexis said laughing.

"Can I just make up an imaginary person?"

"No, you cannot," Alexis said gently shoving him.

"It was just a question," AJ said.

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"Lexi…you have to wake up some time today," AJ said rubbing her back.

"No I don't," Alexis laughed.

"According to me you do," AJ said.

"No," Alexis said laying on her stomach and hugging the pillow.

AJ got on top of her and started to kiss her neck and back.

"AJ…"

"What?" AJ asked. "You look good in hardly anything."

"That's nice to know," Alexis said.

AJ slid her bra strap down her arm and started kissing her shoulder.

"Having fun?" She asked.

"Just wait until I get bored here," AJ said to her. "Then we'll both have fun."

"Get off of me," Alexis said trying to get up.

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"So where are we headed?" AJ asked Alexis.

Alexis looked around and then pointed North West. "That way."

"Through?"

"Through New Mexico, Arizona, California and Oregon," Alexis said.

"Fine by me," AJ said hopping off the car. "You wanna drive?"

"Sure," Alexis said taking the keys.

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Four days later Alexis stopped the car and looked at AJ who was sleeping. She woke him up and he looked around.

"Where are we?" He asked her.

"We're here," Alexis said. "Seattle, Washington."

"You said Oregon," AJ said to her.

"No, I said that we'd go through Oregon," Alexis said.

"So why here?" AJ asked her confused.

Alexis looked around and then pointed at a building that said WWE on the side.

"No," AJ said shaking his head.

"Why not?" Alexis asked.

"Because I've already turned them down four times," AJ said to her. "How do you know that they'll even give me an interview?"

"It's already been set up," Alexis said to him. "Laura phoned over a month ago."

"When is it?" AJ asked her.

"In a week," Alexis answered. "But we have a problem."

"A problem? What's the problem?"

"We're out of cash," Alexis answered. "There's only like thirty bucks on there."

AJ looked at her and ran his fingers through his hair.

"We're switching now," AJ said getting out of the car. Alexis got out and went to the passenger side. "This is the absolute last thing that I intended to do on this trip."

He put the car into drive and quickly drove out of the city. Alexis was too scared to say anything so she just sat back and enjoyed the ride. Soon he was taking back roads. Then he stopped at an older looking house. He sat in the car for a second, took a few deep breaths and then got out of the car.

"Wait here," he said closed the door.

He was halfway to the house when the door opened and an old man stepped outside.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" The man asked.

"I need a place to stay for a while," AJ said to him.

"I never said that you couldn't come back," the man said. "But why did you?"

"My girlfriend had to get away from some people so I quit my job and helped her out," AJ said.

"Well bring her out here," the old man said.

AJ waved Alexis over and she slowly got out of the car. She walked to AJ's side.

"Alexis this is my father, dad this is my girlfriend Alexis," AJ said wrapping his arm around her.

AJ's father looked at them.

"Well come inside," he said opening the door and walking inside.

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"So you quit your job, drove to New York, then Texas and then to Washington?" His father asked.

"Yes sir," AJ said as they sat outside. AJ watched as Alexis played with the dog.

"And she's not even eighteen yet?"

"Nope, in two days she will be and then I'll have nothing to worry about," AJ said.

"I've gotta admit that I never thought you'd come back," his father said.

"Neither did I," AJ said. "But what do you say? Just a week and then I'll be out of your hair forever."

"Hell, you can stay however long you want," his father said.

"Thank you so much," AJ said. "You have no idea how much I appreciate this."

"I can imagine."

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Later on that night AJ tried calling Petey again. This time there was an answer.

"Where the hell have you been?" AJ asked.

"At the hospital," Petey said.

"What? Why?" AJ asked confused.

"Well when Laura threw herself down the stairs she shattered her entire leg," Petey said sounding quite fed up.

"That wasn't expected," AJ said. "How's she doing?"

"She had surgery the other day," Petey said. "She's doing fine though. Her leg will heal completely."

"Tell her that we feel horrible," AJ said.

"That's why Jerry didn't realize that Alexis wasn't home until close to midnight," Petey said. "But how are you two? Where are you?"

"We're in Seattle, Washington," AJ said laughing. "Apparently I have an interview with WWE in a week."

"Congratulations man," Petey said cheering up. "How's Alexis?"

"She's great," AJ said. "Trying to gain some weight."

"That's great," Petey said.

"Well I'd just thought that I'd touch base, see what you two are up to," AJ said to Petey.

"Alright then," Petey said. "I'll talk to you soon."

"Sure thing," AJ said ending the conversation.

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"Your dad's so nice letting us stay here," Alexis said to AJ.

"Yeah," AJ said. "Can we talk about this in the morning? I'm wasted."

"Sure," Alexis said laying down beside AJ.

He put on arm underneath her and pulled her closer to himself. Then with his other arm he pulled her knee up to his abdomen.

"Comfy?" Alexis asked laughing.

"Yeah," AJ said kissed her forehead.

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The next day a girl walked into the room. She saw AJ and a girl laying together on the bed and quickly ran out.

"AJ's back?" The girl asked.

"Yeah, he surfaced last night," his father replied.

"Morning," AJ said to his father as he walked into the kitchen. Then he looked at the girl. "Chantal?"

Chantal covered her mouth as tears filled her eyes. She ran to AJ, threw her arms around his neck and hugged him as tightly as she could.

"You're actually here!" Chantal yelled. AJ hugged Chantal back. "I missed you so much Jax."

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"So who's the slut?" Chantal asked.

"She's not a slut," AJ said to her.

Chantal raised her hands in defense. "Well excuse me," Chantal said. "But she looks anorexic and you two looked pretty comfortable when I walked in."

"Number one, she was starved. Number two, it would be weird if we weren't comfortable because we've been going out for almost a year," AJ said to her.

"Whatever you want to believe Jax," Chantal replied.

"Would you quit it with Jax?" AJ asked her.

"Nope," Chantal said smiling. "Not as long as I know that it still bothers you."

AJ rolled his eyes but jumped up when he saw Alexis.

"How are you?" He asked.

"Good," she said looking at Chantal strangely.

"Oh Lexi, this is Chantal, my sister, Chantal, this is Alexis, my girlfriend," AJ said introducing the two.

"Hi," Alexis said shyly sitting down beside AJ.

"So you fell in love with Jax?" Chantal asked.

Alexis looked at AJ and then back to Chantal. "Who's Jax?"

"Oh, Jax, you never told her," Chantal said smiling at AJ. "You see Alexis, Jax is AJ's nickname because when I was fourteen I was having a sleepover with my friends who all thought that AJ was the hottest thing ever. So they went to see him. Well when they went into his room he was jacking off. So now we call him Jax."

Alexis laughed and then looked at AJ who didn't look to impressed with his sister.

"It's alright," Alexis said to AJ. "I still love ya."

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The next few days Alexis and Chantal became good friends and enjoyed hanging out with each other. But on the third day Alexis got a surprise. When she walked out of the bedroom AJ, Chantal and their dad had a birthday cake for her and they threw her a miniature party. Alexis even started to cry.

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On the seventh day AJ went to meet with the men from WWE and he got the job almost on the spot. He was to start immediately. AJ talked to his father and he said that Alexis could stay with him for as long as she wanted.

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AJ saw Jerry and Jeff every once and a while at his WWE events. They were even waiting outside in the back one time but security had escorted them away. AJ and Alexis both agreed that they had probably decided that it wasn't worth it, there was nothing they could do.

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AJ came out to visit at least once a week and was making a lot of money. The only part that Alexis wasn't happy about was the fact that she wouldn't get to see him on Christmas.

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"Where is she?" AJ asked quietly.

"She went to bed like three hours ago," AJ's father said. "She's been down a lot lately."

"Good," AJ said taking his jacket off. "I'll see you guys in the morning."

AJ was surprised by how decorated the house was, definitely Alexis' doing. When he opened the door she was fast asleep. So he gently laid down beside her on the bed.

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When Alexis woke up she looked around and saw AJ asleep beside her.

She let out an ecstatic scream.

"Oh my God!" Alexis yelled hugging AJ. "You're here!"

AJ hugged her as tightly as he could.

"I wouldn't make you spend Christmas by yourself," AJ said to her.

Alexis wiped the tears from her eyes and kissed him.

"I missed you so much," she said and kissed him again.

"I missed you too," he said sitting up and holding her. "But I wanna take you somewhere."

"Where?" Alexis asked confused.

"Just get dressed and I'll take you there," AJ said.

"Alright," Alexis said quickly getting dressed.

When she was finished AJ met her outside and blindfolded her.

"Where are we going?" She asked him.

"It's a surprise," he said helping her into the car and then getting in himself.

He drove around for a while before going down a dirt road that was close to his father's.

"Are we there yet?" Alexis asked.

"Almost," AJ said.

Another ten minutes later AJ finally stopped the car.

"Just wait," he said and ran around the side of the car.

He opened the car door and helped her out. Then when he liked where she was standing he told her to take the blindfold off.

Alexis was speechless. There was a three-story house in front of her.

"Like it?" He asked.

"This is…"

"All ours," AJ said to her.

Alexis let out another scream and jumped into AJ's arms.

"I love you so much," AJ said kissing her.

"I love you too!" Alexis said crying.

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Well that was it! I hope you all enjoyed it!

Katie